This invention relates to portable lighted containers such as tackle boxes, tool boxes, medical boxes, first aid kits, and the like which include at least one compartmented tray.
One well known form of tackle box, for example, comprises an open topped base member with a hinged lid, or multiple hinged lid segments, and a plurality of compartmentalized trays contained within the base member when the lid is closed, with linkage elements interconnecting the trays so that they can be moved from a superimposed stacked condition when the box is closed to an expanded cantilevered condition in which the trays are vertically offset whereby access can be obtained to each tray when the box is opened. While this form of tackle box structure may provide ready access to each tray when the box is opened, generally no provision is made for lighting the trays, for example, as an aid to nocturnal fishing.
An earlier proposal for lighting a tackle box of the above type is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,346,733, issued Oct. 10, 1967 to Woolworth. In this arrangement, a pair of the superposed tackle box trays are formed with light sockets for receiving respective light bulbs which are positioned in plane with the base of the respective tray. The trays are made of a material which transmits light by an edge-lighting effect (sometimes referred to as a light piping effect) so that when the box is opened and the trays are moved into the cantilevered positions, the respective light bulbs are actuated and the trays are caused to glow by the edge lighting effect. Further, one of the light bulbs is located in the lowermost tray of the stack so that it also serves to light the bottom of the box.
In the tackle box structure disclosed in the Woolworth patent, the light bulbs in the respective trays are operated from a battery pack which is contained in a housing located at one side in the base of the box. Further, circuitry for actuating the light bulbs extends from the power pack through the metal links which interconnect the respective trays and thence by leads to the respective light sockets. The system is somewhat complex, thereby adding to the expense of the tackle box and, moreover, the power pack impinges upon the space available in the base of the box.